Putin’s poisoners (Pt 2): Marina Litvinenko’s fight for justice

For 17 years serial rapist and burglar Delroy Grant – who  became known as the ‘Night Stalker’ - terrorised elderly people in south London, cutting phone lines before breaking into homes and carrying out horrific sex attacks on victims as old as 93. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright speaks to ex Metropolitan Police DCI Colin Sutton, whose battle to capture Grant is now an ITV drama starring Martin Clunes, on the near-miss that left Grant free to attack more victims, and how his team finally tracked down the monster and saw him jailed for 27 years for a string of rapes, sex assaults and burglaries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With her murdered husband’s powerful last statement still echoing in her ears, Marina Litvinenko has fought a long and lonely battle to bring two justice the two ‘businessmen’ thought to have poisoned her husband with radioactive Polonium-210  - former bodyguard Andrey Luguvoy and former KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun. Marina speaks to award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright on her long quest for justice, whether she fears she might be targeted by assassins, and why she still loves Russia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fifteen years ago, Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who had fled Russia to safety in Britain, was hospitalised with a mystery illness after a business meeting with two Russians in a London hotel. A haunting photo of Litvinenko shocked the world, and three days later he was dead, poisoned by radioactive Polonium-210. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright talks to his widow Marina Litvinenko  in Part One of a two-part podcast about the moment she realised that her husband had been poisoned, her 15-year quest for justice, and her husband’s powerful deathbed message to Vladimir Putin, ‘You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life.’See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Monday, in a New York courtroom, a pre-trial hearing began. The complainant was Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the defendant was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. She alleges that when aged 17, she was introduced to the Prince by paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein - and forced to have sex with him. Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright digs into this remarkable case with the help of a panel of experts including Nazir Afzal, a former Chief Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service and expert on historical sex abuse cases, Dai Davies, ex head of the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty Protection Squad and Mail journalist Daniel Bates who is based in New York - and reported on the pre-trial hearing this week. What dangers lay ahead for the Duke, who denies any wrongdoing, and for how much longer can Scotland Yard delay launching a formal probe into Ms Giuffre’s allegations?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a grand house in South London, a group of seven remarkable people gathered together for the first time - all victims of or witnesses to gross injustices at the hands of the police. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright spoke to victims of bungled cases, corruption and the inept investigation of false abuse claims - from Baroness Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen was brutally killed by racist thugs in 1993, to Lady Brittan, whose late husband Leon (an ex Tory Home Secretary) was hounded by police over ludicrous false sex abuse allegations, and Alastair Morgan, whose brother, private eye Daniel Morgan, was the victim of an infamous (and still unsolved) axe murder in 1987. All had one thing in common - they felt they had been failed by the Metropolitan Police, and were to sign a letter calling for Dame Cressida Dick’s tenure as Commissioner to not be extended and a shake up of the police watchdog.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the biggest robbery in British history, it wasn’t the end of his story - he disappeared over the wall of Wandsworth Prison and fled abroad, becoming one of the 20th century’s most infamous wanted men. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright talks to Colin Mackenzie, the intrepid reporter who tracked Biggs down in Brazil in 1974 about how he found him, why he found himself charmed by the notorious criminal… and what happened next. Brace yourself for a heavy dose of Fleet Street and Scotland Yard nostalgia from a different era.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What lead to the conspiracy theories that swirled in the aftermath of Diana’s death - and what role did BBC journalist Martin Bashir play in the final years of Diana’s life? In the final of our seven-part series, Stephen Wright talks to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the people who spread the conspiracy theories about Diana’s death, and why some are still not convinced to this day that her death was an accident. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The inquests into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales officially began on 2 October 2007, ten years after her death - but would the findings of Operation Paget satisfy those who still believed she had been murdered? In the sixth of our seven-part series, Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the evidence he gave to the inquest. And Michael Cole, Mohammed al Fayed’s press secretary explains why his former boss was unhappy with the outcome. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Central to the conspiracy theories around Princess Diana’s death was an accusation that Princes Charles and Prince Philip had been involved in a plot to kill her in a staged car crash - fears voiced by Diana herself in a letter to butler Paul Burrell. In the fifth of our seven-part series, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the moment he had to ask Prince Charles whether he had a hand in murdering his wife... and about a mysterious sum of money found in chauffeur Henri Paul’s bank account. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mysteries still remained after Diana’s death - was the Princess pregnant? Why did it take so long for emergency services to get her to hospital... and could she have been saved? In the fourth of our seven-part series, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, the ground-breaking three-year inquiry into Diana’s death. Lord Stevens reveals how he began to put the conspiracy theories to rest - while leading forensic pathologist Dr Dick Shepherd explains the real reason why there were ‘gaps’ in the notes from the autopsy on chauffeur Henri Paul. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.